When language fails ...

A new exhibition entitled Surfacing at Shanghai Gallery of Art features four painters from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Borrowing the title from Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, the curator David Chan identifies with the idea that the visual is a subjective and emotional experience and the use of language to articulate what people see and feel may not be adequate.

You Si started his painting career in the 1980s, at the dawn of China's contemporary arts development.